Nantucket Harbor Nautical Chart (1889) — Framed Coast Survey Chart Print

The story of this map

The Coast and Geodetic Survey drew Nantucket Harbor at 1:10,000 in 1889, a scale large enough to show the town street by street. The wharves reach out from Main Street, Brant Point light stands on its spit, and the new stone jetties — begun in 1881 to stop the sandbar closing the entrance — run out into the Sound. The soundings fill the harbour and the approach, with the flats and the channel picked out in isolines.

It was a working chart, and it looks like one: black line, spare lettering, the survey’s neat block of title and notes. That restraint is what makes it hang so well. Restored from the Leventhal Map Center’s scan, with the paper tone kept and the small stains of a chart that was used left in place.

A natural companion to the 1860 Nantucket Shoals sheet, and the right gift for anyone who has come into that harbour under sail.

Before and after

Left: the archive scan exactly as published. Right: the file that goes to the printer.

Nantucket Harbor Nautical Chart, 1889: archive scan compared with the restored print

Archive scanRestored

Restoration notes

Restoration: trimmed the scanner margins, balanced levels while keeping the paper tone (65% of the original colour retained), removed dust and specks, applied gentle sharpening. Stamps, tipped-on notices and the wear of a used chart are kept where they belong to the object; nothing is redrawn.

Every print carries its archive credit on the packing slip. Paper tone and small imperfections of the original are kept on purpose; nothing is redrawn.

Questions

What does the chart show?

Nantucket Harbor at 1:10,000 — the town's streets and wharves, Brant Point light, the jetties built in the 1880s to keep the entrance open, and the soundings of the harbour and the approach from Nantucket Sound.

Is this the same as the Nantucket Shoals chart?

No. That 1860 sheet covers the offshore shoals; this one is a large-scale plan of the harbour itself. They hang well as a pair.

Which size?

The sheet is portrait, about 3:4. 18×24 in framed is the usual choice; 20×30 in gives the town plan room to breathe.

Is this an original?

No — a new archival print from a restored scan of the Leventhal Map Center's copy, a public-domain US government chart. Not sold as an antique.

Colours vary between screens and paper. The tone you see here is a close match to the archival matte print; framed prints have no glass glare in these previews.

Pairs well with

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print

Nantucket Shoals Nautical Chart, 1860

US Coast Survey · Boston Public Library, Leventhal Map Center

$129 18×24 in framed · paper from $35

Eldridge Chart of Vineyard Sound & Nantucket Shoals, 1874

George Eldridge · Boston Public Library, Leventhal Map Center

$129 24×18 in framed · paper from $35

The discount is applied automatically at checkout when two or more framed prints are in the cart.

Size	Metric	Best for
12×16 in	30×41 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
12×18 in	30×46 cm	Desk, shelf, small wall, gallery groupings
16×20 in	41×51 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
16×24 in	41×61 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
18×24 in	46×61 cm	Above a desk or console, hallway, bedroom
20×30 in	51×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×30 in	61×76 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×32 in	61×81 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office
24×36 in	61×91 cm	Over a sofa or bed, statement wall, office

Nantucket Harbor Nautical Chart, 1889

Before and after

Restoration notes

Hang them together — 10% off the second framed print